Stolen Angel
by risenfromash
Summary: Vera's under housearrest upstairs from Apollo Phoenix when she is abducted. FINAL CHAPTER IS POSTED. COMPLETE. What will Polly do to find out the truth when Vera doesn't wnat to talk about it? Polly/Vera, Maya/Nick, Trucy, Ema
1. Chapter 1

RISENFROMASH: Hello, everybody! I just wanted to say that this story has been a pain in the but to write as I didn't want to go TOO dark with it and lose that special Ace Attorney feel, but I also wanted some real peril and drama.

**Here is important back-story info for those of you who might not have read anything else I've written as part of my huge Apollo/Vera, Nick/Maya story arc.** This takes place after the Apollo Justice game but before Nick has gotten his attorney's license back by retaking his exam. At this point Apollo and Vera are fairly early in their relationship and Maya and Phoenix are engaged and living together at the office along with Trucy and Apollo. Vera lives upstairs (presumably in Mia's old apartment though this has never been discussed with Apollo) and Vera is under house arrest for forgeries she created while living with her father. Phoenix is considered the guardian or overseer of her house arrest and she has a probation officer that comes and checks on her. She doesn't have an ankle bracelet- budget cuts have made them cost prohibitive in many cases. So, Vera is Ok to move about the building, but not leave it. I think that's about all you need to know.

CHAPTER 1

"Hey, Polly?" Trucy was talking to me through our makeshift wall. Trucy was such a damn early riser. It made it hard sharing a room with her sometimes.

"Yeah?" My room was cast in the haze of the early morning light which gave everything a crazy orangish hue to it, even the "Color Theory" painting Vera and I had created together looked oddly monotone in this light. I hate mornings.

"Is Vera in there with you?"

"No, I wish," I said and rolled over.

"Um, do you know where she might be?"

I sat up like a shot. "What do you mean? She's not in her apartment?"

"She's not answering her door or her phone. Polly, I have a bad feeling…"

I ran into the office and grabbed the spare key to Vera's apartment and ran upstairs. Vera suffered from insomnia making it unlike her not to answer. I shouted her name as I slid the key in the lock and ran in. The living room looked normal.

"Vera? Vera? Are you OK?" I peered in the bathroom. She wasn't there. I ran into the bedroom. Behind me, Trucy was madly punching the buttons of her phone constantly redialing Vera's cell number.

"Vera, Vera are you there? We're here at your place, me and Polly. What's going on? Please call us!"

Her bed looked like it had been slept in, but the blankets were pulled half way off the bed and her window was wide open. The screen was out. Trucy again hit redial and I heard a sound coming from Vera's nightstand. I slid open the drawer and saw her cell phone vibrating. There'd be no reaching her on that.

I turned to Trucy. "Call the police." I ran down the stairs dizzy from worry and ran outside to look around the building's grounds. The whole world seemed to be spinning. Maya came running out of the office throwing a bathrobe over her nightgown. She must have heard me run down the stairs. I shouted to her that Vera was missing and before I knew it everyone was there: Trucy, Maya, Phoenix, and I all calling Vera's name and running around the building and its alleyways in our pajamas hoping to find some sign of her, but we couldn't find her anywhere.

The police interrogated me for what seemed like hours. When was the last time I talked to her, when was the last time I'd seen her, had we had a fight? They asked me if she had suicidal tendencies or if she might have made a run for it with some underworld contact. I shouted at them. None of these ridiculous lines of questioning was going to do anything to help find her.

"Why aren't you out looking for her? Somebody's taken her!" I got up in the cop's face and another police officer was about to grab me and pull me back, but Phoenix stepped between us. Under his breath he whispered to me, "Apollo, calm down or they'll think you did something with her."

And then Phoenix turned on that nice-guy charm of his. "Officer, is my friend here considered a suspect? Because if so I think he needs to be allowed to consult a lawyer before this line of questioning proceeds and if not I think it's obvious he has nothing more to tell you. We all got up this morning and she had vanished. It's as simple as that. He's worried about his girlfriend. Here's his card and my card. You can have Detective Skye call us." And with that the dumbfounded police officers let Phoenix wrap his arm around me, turn me around and march me back into our office.

Our office was filled with more police officers milling about than I usually see at the police station. A couple of them eyed me suspiciously as they questioned Maya. I had a feeling that Maya was trying to keep them occupied as she seemed to intentionally stall her answer to every question. Phoenix had probably told her to keep the cops busy for a while. After all, they were of little use to us if they really didn't think Vera had been kidnapped.

Trucy was on one of the computers creating a missing person's flier using a photo Maya had taken of Vera. The picture had been taken a few weeks ago when Vera had us all over for homemade pizza at her apartment. Maya had lined up the shot of Vera with the gourmet pizza she had made, but Vera had other ideas and yanked me by the arm into the shot at the last moment. You could see her joyfully giggling as I bumped into her and the hot pizza. Even in the poorly framed snapshot Vera was radiant, a stunning wide-eyed beauty holding the hand of a total doof who had been stupid enough to believe that the worst in her life was behind her. And now her innocent beauty was in the hands of criminals who would do god knows what to her. The thought made me ill and I ran into the bathroom and was sick.

If I could have done anything to trade places with her I would do it. There was no hesitation on my part to do whatever I could to get her back. The only problem was we had no clue where she had gone to and why.

Returning to the office from the bathroom, I saw that our friends were huddled together on the couches. It was obvious that investigating Vera's disappearance was not going to be left merely to our local police. Maya and Trucy were already on the case discussing with Phoenix anything that might lead us to clues as to her whereabouts. I would have liked to think I could switch myself that effectively into investigation mode, but my stomach was still sick with visions of all the horrific things that could be happening to her. All those crime photos I'd seen, all those horrible stories that I had purposefully created a blockade from for my work, now they were all her. I realized then for the first time how dehumanizing it is to be referred to as "the victim". All those people had been someone's child, someone's friend, someone's lover and nothing had protected them, why should I think that Vera and I were immune to the evils of the world? I had no control, no way to protect her. Maybe if I had been there I could have done something, but I wasn't. She had been stolen away right under my nose as I slept downstairs.

"As far as we know she never had contact with any shady people. Her dad did all that and most of that was years ago." Maya stated.

"So, why would someone take her now?" Trucy asked.

"It could be that someone's trying to get at Apollo, but it isn't that widely know that they're together," offered Phoenix.

I shrugged, "I can't think of anybody. I don't have any cases right now."

"Well, it doesn't take long to make enemies in this business," said Phoenix.

Maya smiled sympathetically at me, "Don't worry. I've always come back unharmed. Just hungry and tired." Maya was our local expert on being kidnapped or being put in harm's way; during her years as Phoenix's assistant she had been a common target. It almost seemed like Phoenix's enemies recognized the intimate connection between the two of them before Nick figured it out.

Maya hugged me and I started crying. I could have been embarrassed, I guess, but instead I just felt relief. It was hard to hear all these strangers talking in their business-like tones about Vera. I was used to any mention of her being tinted with affection not because I was dating her, but because she was part of the family, part of the odd conglomeration of souls who found peace in Phoenix Wright's world.

We had to get her back. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her. Vera was simply too nice a person to ever be harmed and I didn't feel like we could ever be whole again without her. As I sat there trying to clear my anguished mind so I could be of help, Detective Skye came in. She looked more intense than usual and for once did not appear to be snacking. I never realized she cared about Vera.

"So, have any of you gotten a ransom note or a phone call?" We all shook our heads.

"When can I get back in her apartment?" I asked.

"If you're hoping for finger prints on the window. You're outta luck."

"…Sorry" she added.

I was thinking about that, but I also had more mundane concerns, "I need to feed Henry the Magnificent. It's her pet fish. She won't forgive me if he doesn't get taken care of. " I must have looked pathetic in Maya's arms with blood shot teary eyes asking permission to care for my girlfriend's stupid fish but Ema said nothing. She merely raised her eyebrow at me like I was a broken shell of my former self and whipped out her cell phone to call someone. We heard her talk to someone named Officer Meekins, "When you're done dusting for prints bring the boyfriend the fish…I know, I know…well we don't need to be doing it! It's a damn fish…yes…All you have to do is bring it down here. Just do it!"

Then she turned back to us, "Apollo, they'll bring her fish down here for you guys to tend to, but I'm sorry I can't let you in the apartment. It'd mean my neck. They're trying to connect you with her disappearance because it's not looking like she left on her own."

"I know! And it's ridiculous. I love Vera. I'd never do anything to hurt her."

"Well, you've got a reputation for being a little aggressive…a little overly passionate…scientifically speaking crimes of passion are fairly common…"

"Ema, I swear I didn't hurt her. I'd never do that! You know me!"

"I know that, but you need to lay low and not be antagonizing the cops. It makes my job harder. We need to concentrate on trying to find her as quickly as we can. Keep your cell phone on you and stay at the office in case Vera or her kidnapper call."

As Ema went to leave I walked with her to the door of the office and she spoke to me in a low voice, "Try not to do anything stupid, OK? They're watching you."

At least Detective Skye agreed with us that Vera had been kidnapped unlike the first responders who seemed to think Vera had suddenly decided to leave everything she owned and start a new life. If I really believed that I would have felt better, even though it would mean never seeing her again. But I was sure she had been abducted. She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye to at least one of us and not only that, I was convinced she would have taken some things with her that had sentimental value: her favorite paintbrush set, Henry, her favorite book, a photo of her father, _something_. Hell, she hadn't even taken her drawing pad. It was resting on her bedside table with a pencil at the ready just like it always was when she was in bed.

The day stretched on. I paced from one end of the office to the other. I sat down and got up. Nothing felt comfortable or right. Phoenix spied on the cops trying to figure out when he and Maya could sneak into Vera's apartment to investigate and Trucy went out to ask our neighbors and people at the Gatewater Hotel next door if anybody had seen or heard anything suspicious.

We all reconvened around lunchtime. There had still been no contact from the kidnappers and no witnesses had come forward to say they saw or heard anything out of the ordinary. The fact no one had contacted me or Wright made me really nervous. Was she just a random victim of some sicko? Where was she and what was happening to her?

Ema had told us that she would be issuing a news bulletin regarding Vera's disappearance so we decided to turn on the TV news to see the coverage of Vera's vanishing.

_Local convicted felon, Vera Misham, better known as world-famous forger and book illustrator, Drew Misham, has disappeared from her apartment in the SE district. Police aren't releasing details, but it is believed that Ms. Misham was taken from her apartment during the night. It is believed that foul play may be involved. Authorities have not released the names of potential suspects but have interviewed her former defense attorney, Mr. Apollo Justice, in connection with the case._

I grunted. Wonderful, just wonderful.

_In other news, Freedom Party Candidate, Ralph Parks insists that he has proof that his opponent, incumbent Susan Bennett has been taking bribes. While he has yet to produce any proof of this representatives from his campaign said that they will be holding a press conference later this month to prove the allegations of unethical behavior. Susan Bennett calls the allegations, "Preposterous and unworthy of further comment."_

"I agree with her. Doesn't everybody know the Freedom Party is just a puppet for the Rivales crime ring?" Trucy asked her dad. Phoenix shrugged and I was forced to admit that I hadn't known that, but I don't really follow politics much.

_Looking for something fun and educational to do this weekend? Head to the art museum where an exquisite collection of Asian artifacts will be on display. Amongst the collection is a painting of a former Chinese emperor valued at over 20 million dollars._

_ So, Bob Henry what can we expect from the Ivy League Aadvarks tonight? Is another win in there future or are they going to choke like on Thursday night…"_

I groaned. They were going to devote more time to some idiot throwing a ball in a hoop than on my girlfriend's kidnapping. Typical. I turned off the TV and tried to decide what to do next.

"Maybe we're comparing this too much to when Maya's been taken," said Trucy. We looked at her- what did she mean? I felt like she was making an important point but my synapses were no longer connecting to one another. I struggled to grasp the thought that seemed just out of reach.

"That's it! Her skills! Maybe somebody kidnapped her for her forgery skills. The trials were in the papers anybody would know how good she is. Maybe they've taken her to create something! And then they'll let her go!"

At this point Trucy bowed her head. Maya was clinging onto Phoenix as if he were a life preserver and Phoenix looked very downtrodden.

"There's a problem with that," Phoenix said slowly as if easing into a conversation he didn't really want to be having.

"No that has to be it!! Vera's brilliant- they've taken her because she does what nobody else can do. I'm sure of it. Maybe they need a famous work of art copied or-"

"Apollo, I don't mean with your theory. I mean with the last part. If somebody took her to use her forgery skills they're not going to let her go." Maya let out an enormous sob. "They won't want her to tell what she's done for them. They'll kill her when she's done."

The stark truth of Phoenix's words hung in the room. There would be no ransom note, no negotiations. Whoever had her would use her and throw her away.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Well, I looked around up there and a few things stood out to me," Phoenix said.

"Like Apollo said there's no signs of forced entry and I don't think there's anyway someone could have opened the window from the outside. So her attacker came in through the front door. Most likely she let them in."

"Why would she do that, Daddy? Vera's not dumb. She keeps the little chain lock thing on the door. Why would she open the door in the middle of the night to a stranger?" Trucy contemplated.

"Maybe she did know her kidnapper- maybe we're thinking about this wrong again. She always checks whose at the door."

_SHIT!!_ "Vera thought it was me. She opens the door for me without looking."

Trucy was scandalized. "Polly, you shouldn't be encouraging her to answer the door in the middle of the night."

"Truce, for the last time you are not my mother and you don't understand. Normally she knows if it's me. I knock a special way and she just let's me in." Now I felt like shit. They got in because she thought it was me sneaking upstairs to spend the night with her. It didn't even occur to me that I was also now admitting to all our friends that I snuck up to Vera's at night on a routine basis. When the thought hit me I blushed and sunk down in my seat a little. So much for secrets.

"OK, so Vera answers the door thinking it's Polly. The attacker knocks her out somehow and takes her out the bedroom window."

"I'm guessing it took a team," said Maya.

"An organized team. They've been watching Vera and Polly and waited till he was down here and they imitated his knock so she'd open the door. Meanwhile they used a ladder to reach her window and passed her out. Someone else was probably out front with a getaway car," proposed Phoenix.

"Make that a getaway van- it had to be something big to fit a stepladder in." I said.

"Ladder," Trucy corrected my mistake automatically out of habit.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled.

Phoenix was grumbling, "How could nobody at the Gatewater Hotel see anything? It's just crazy to me."

"They must have been super stealthy," Maya narrowed her eyes as she tried to imagine the scene.

"Great. Vera's been kidnapped by ninjas." I said sarcastically and sadly the truth was she might as well have been taken by masked martial artists for all we knew. The team that had taken Vera had done it quickly and competently leaving us virtually no clues.

It was agonizing thinking of all the things that could be happening to her. Facing the reality that she could already be dead was the worst, but I had to believe that if they had put so much work into stealing her away from us that they needed her and I desperately hoped her kidnappers would remember that. If they kept her alive to create a forgery it would buy us time to get her back.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Trucy searched the Internet for any major art theft that had occurred recently or some other hint of what the captors might need Vera for. I hadn't slept or eaten. It was now getting dark. Vera had been gone for at least 12 hours. I sat at my desk with my feet resting on top of it staring at Henry the Magnificent as he peacefully swam in his little bowl with the decorative ceramic castle and treasure chest.

"Damn you. You dumb fish. A dog could have protected her. A dog would know how to follow her scent too, but no! Vera's dad had to give you to her. You just continue to swim around in your little bowl like nothing of significance has happened. Like the woman who loves… you… isn't…" I started breaking down again.

"Polly," Trucy said gently. "I don't think shouting at Henry is helping." She put her hand on my back trying to calm me, but I shook off her comforting. I knew nobody was comforting Vera.

I closed my eyes and tried to image Vera at her happiest. Vera reading her books. Vera mischievously enticing me into her arms. Vera drawing and Vera painting.

_Please, my angel, please fight, fight for me._

_._

I had been up all night but I must have drifted off at some point, because I found myself having a dream about Vera's father's murder trial. Spark Brushel was on the stand yakking about something and then I must have twitched a little as I heard his voice say, "Oh, so you are awake!"

I sat straight up. I had fallen asleep in my office chair. My neck was painfully aching from having rested at a funky angle and a string of drool was hanging from my mouth.

"Morning, sunshine." Mr. Brushel was leaning over me with a goofy grin on his face. "I smelt a story and came on over. Underage lover of attorney vanishes amid rumors of love triangle. Unquote."

_Ugh!!_

"She's not underage! And I had nothing to do with her disappearance. I wish I had been with her then maybe I could have done something to stop it."

"Young romantic thinks if only I could have saved her. Unquote."

"Yeah, something like that, I guess." I said wiping the spit off my face with the back of my hand.

Mr. Brushel was a crazy kind of reporter. He had a real nose for news, but he got most of his scoops by annoying people so much that they finally just told him the truth to get him to shut up.

"Besides, Mr. Brushel," Trucy explained gently to him. "You can't print anything like that. Its libelous and I'm sure Polly would sue you. He is an attorney, you know." Leave it to Trucy to be lecturing a reporter on laws effecting journalism. Did she think she was an expert on everything now?

"Reporter threatened by other woman. Unquote."

I groaned. People always think Trucy is my girlfriend. I have no idea why. I decided then that I'd better stop introducing her to people as my friend and just start telling everybody she was my sister. Surely a white lie like that would be worth it for my sanity. It would mean so much less aggravation for both of us.

"Look- you've got everything wrong again. Someone kidnapped Vera. We think they intend to have her forge something for them, but we don't know who has her."

Then an idea occurred to me. Spark knew people. He had connections…

"If you help us investigate we'll give you an exclusive interview after we find her."

Spark's eyes lit up at the word "exclusive". He may be an odd duck, but he really isn't a bad guy. He hadn't lied at Vera's trial- he had simply misinterpreted what he'd seen and if he had lied she would surely be in jail right now.

Though jail would probably be better than in the hands of kidnappers…

"So you say Ms. Misham was snatched from her apartment?"

"That's right. Sometime during the night. We believe it took a team of people. They whisked her away without anybody in the building waking up."

Mr. Brushel was scrolling notes all over his forearm.

Surely this guy isn't so poor he can't afford a notepad…

I wondered what he did when he showered. Maybe I didn't want to know.

Mr. Brushel asked some more detailed questions that I had no answers for and then Trucy offered, "That big Asian art exhibit downtown correlates with her disappearance. We thought perhaps the two were related."

"Hhhhmmm…" Mr. Brushel's nose was visibly wiggling. "I haven't heard of anything unusual happening at the art museum…maybe I ought to head over there."

So since he'd be digging around for clues at the museum, Trucy and I decided to act on one of our other investigative ideas: art supply stores. Since none of Vera's art supplies appeared to be missing we figured someone must have taken Vera to a prestocked studio or be just now buying supplies for her creation. It was a long shot, but we knew from experience Vera didn't need just your normal stuff to make her world-class fakes. Her apartment with her dad had contained a whole section of scientific equipment, scales and magnifiers and all kinds of machinery I was still unclear as to what it did.

We knew that our chances of finding a clue this way were really slim, but since we had no eyewitnesses and no fingerprints it was the best we could come up with. It took us most of the day to travel by bus from art store to art store. On the bus ride between shops, Trucy and I called local galleries to ask them if anything had been stolen and if anything suspicious had happened there recently. Nothing was turning up. I was starting to fear that Vera had been taken far away- out of state or even smuggled out of the country. After all, her abilities were known worldwide it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that someone could have taken her far away. The thought made a pain in the pit of my stomach. If she wasn't in the city there was nothing I could do to help her so I had to believe she was here somewhere.

The last art store on our list to visit was "The Ink Spot- Art Supplies for the Next Millenia." It was located all the way over in the NW district and featured an industrial looking exterior complete with brushed metal fixtures. Trucy and I entered through the front door and were greeted by a store employee behind the counter who looked like he was wearing a Halloween costume of what the stereotypical artistic type should look like. His hair was cut at all kinds of funky angles and was dyed at least three colors and he exuded a pissed off at the world posture that immediately rubbed me the wrong way so I left Trucy to do the questioning while I looked around. I was in no mood to deal with people like that.

Our line of questioning was fairly vague: had anything out of the ordinary been purchased recently? Any customers behave strangely? Anything suspicious? And while we hadn't turned up any clues this way at least we were doing something. Vera had been gone almost 36 hours by this point and hanging around the office or her apartment was like torture to me.

As I walked down an aisle I smelled something that reminded me of her. I looked up half expecting to see Vera strolling the aisle when I realized it was the pencils that I was smelling. They were the brand she used. I picked one up and feel its weight in between my fingers. I imagined how by using this pencil she could create a masterpiece in the time it would take me to scribble some stick figures. I was holding the pencil close to my lips, inhaling its woody aroma when I heard Trucy call for me. Embarrassed, I set it back amongst its clones and walk over to the counter.

"Listen to this!" Trucy said triumphantly.

"Yeah, we had a weird guy come in here. Yesterday afternoon"

"Weird? How?" I asked. Do I dare hope?

"Well, he didn't look to be the artistic type. I can tell real artists."

_Oh, boy Vera would have a heyday with this guy. _She's never so quick to judge people.

The clerk gave Trucy and I a thorough look over and seemed satisfied we also didn't meet his "artist" qualifications, but he continued.

"He was asking for all these real specific things, but he didn't know what any of them were. A true artist does not send someone else to get the tools of their craft!"

"What kind of things was he asking for?"

"Specific weights of paper, some inks, and even one thing I've never even heard of and I'm the purchaser here so I know art supplies."

_And I know arrogant ass holes when I see them._ Why was Trucy bothering me with this?

"Really?" Trucy asked. "What was that?"

"Some sort of plastic with a name that sounded like a rock. Said he needed a sheet of it at least 6 inches by 6 inches. He kept insisting how important it was and he got really in my face when I said I'd never heard of it."

Wait-maybe we were on to something.

"It's not something you've ever heard of? Do you remember what it was called?"

The clerk turned and shouted to his coworker in the storeroom. "Hey, Jenny! Do you remember what the name of that plastic was that weirdo wanted yesterday?"

"Yeah" came a voice from the office. "Something called Polyimalrite."

Trucy and I turned to each other.

"You don't suppose?" I murmured.

"Oh, yes I do! Polly, she is brilliant! She sent you a message! She's here she's still alive and she's in the city!"


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

I was still upset, still worried, but I felt much better. When I walked into the office I saw that Maya and Phoenix were asleep on the couch. It looked as though they had been attempting to do research as books and maps were strewn around them and Maya's head was resting on a legal pad with notes written all over it. I wondered how many nights they had shared like this trying to solve the seemingly unsolvable. I hated to wake them up but they roused as soon as Trucy and I walked up.

"She's alright!" I said.

Phoenix jumped up from the couch, "You found her?"

I shook my head.

"No, but we think she sent someone to get her some supplies. The police are making a composite drawing of the person right now. They'll fax it over when they're done."

"Great!" said Maya running over to the fax machine even though it was obvious nothing was coming through yet.

Vera's message to me had achieved its purpose. She knew me well enough to know I would be completely freaking out so she was trying to reassure me that she was ok so I would focus more on finding her and worry less about the worst-case scenarios that were constantly playing in my head like a scratched record. Like Phoenix had told me before, Vera was a smart girl.

As we waited for the fax Trucy made us all ramen and we picked at it. We were all still too nervous to really want food even Maya, but none of us wanted to be rude to Trucy. After all, she was only trying to take care of us.

My cell phone rang. It was Mr. Brushel. He informed me with a hint of irritation in his voice that nothing unusual had been going on at the museum and that we would be graced with his presence soon.

I groaned both because he had failed to turn up anything and because he was unwilling to leave me alone.

"That was Spark. He got a whole lotta nothing at the museum. Security's tight and nothing seems abnormal. So I think that's out… other ideas?"

Trucy shrugged, "I guess we just have to wait till we see the suspect."

"But it will only be one of the team that took her and I'm guessing the person playing gopher isn't high up in the plot. It may not do us a lot of good."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Apollo. Ema will come through." Phoenix said with confidence and I caught the briefest grimace of irritation upon Maya's usually sweet face as he spoke of Ema. It was hard for me to believe that Maya was still worried Phoenix had feelings for Detective Skye.

"Maya," he said wrapping his arms around her. "I didn't mean anything by it." And I heard Maya make a sheepish apology to Phoenix.

Trucy flicked on the TV. It was almost news time. The sensationalized teasers were on.

_The search continues tonight for missing artist and convicted local felon, Vera Misham. Hear the latest in the case!_

_ The fight is heating up over a new tax bill. Find out who could be hit the hardest!_

_ And finally what truth lies in the accusations of bribery against Incumbent Susan Bennett?_

All this and more, plus sports and weather when we come back.

Since the art show looked like a dead lead. I was puzzled by what else someone would want forged. Vera wasn't a counterfeiter, she had never created fake bills or coins, so what else could be so important, I wondered. Maybe a deed to a piece of property or a will…or….

I heard the fax start making it's obnoxious chugging sounds and dashed over to stand beside Maya as the composite sketch came through. Maya grabbed it and I looked over her shoulder.

"Damn! That dude looks like about 45% of the population! This doesn't help!" We already knew the suspect was a white male from the description the clerk had given us and the picture was about as generic as one could get.

"It can't be that bad. Let me see," Trucy announced confidently. "Oh…you're right. We saw twenty people who looked like this on the bus today alone."

I felt discouraged. This was our only lead and it didn't seem promising.

"Wait!" said Maya. "It says here he had a tattoo of a gun wielding dragon on his hand. That's pretty distinctive don't you think?"

"Pretty tacky, too." said Trucy.

Maya nodded her agreement. "What would a dragon need with a gun?"

"Why would a samurai need to be half robot?" teased Phoenix trying to lighten the mood. Maya took the bait and launched into a lengthy detailed explanation of the Steel Samurai and the Nickel Samurai's back-stories complete with references to both the TV show cannon and that portrayed in the manga.

I wasn't feeling particularly comforted knowing that Vera was being held by someone whose idea of accessorizing was having something like a mythical creature with an AK-47 permanently inked into their hand, but I tried to focus on the good in this. At least the tattoo separated this guy from the millions of other white males out there and I was fairly confident that this wasn't a tattoo you could just walk into a parlor and choose off the wall display.

After Maya's diatribe on the Steel Samurai we refocused on the suspect. Phoenix mentioned that the police kept a log of convicted criminal's tattoos and unique markings so I called Detective Skye.

"Ema?"

"I know you're calling about the tattoo. I'm working on it, Apollo; I'm working on it. These things take time. I'm only one person."

She sounded stressed and I couldn't hear her munching so I figured she must have been working as hard as she could.

"We'll come help you." And looking straight at Maya I added, "All of us would _love_ to help you."

At the police station we were led to a room similar to the one in the detention center where I interview my clients except this room had no glass divider wall. It was just an ugly bare room with a big eight-foot long table in it. Ema Skye was seated at the table but was barely visible behind a stack of three-ring binders and loose papers.

She looked more frazzled than I had ever seen her. She glanced up and pointed to a stack of at least fifteen binders at the end of the table.

"Each of you take one and start looking. Each criminal has a page. I know I've seen that tattoo somewhere before…"

As I grabbed one of the thick notebooks I marveled that all this information hadn't been entered into a computer database. What decade did our police force think we were living in? If Vera didn't get back because of this I'd raise hell.

We rifled through notebooks for hours. Each page had a mug shot, rap sheet, and a "distinctive markings" section each typed onto the form the old fashioned way. After a few hours of this I knew more about the birthmarks, moles, scars, and tattoos of every thug in the tri-county area than I would have ever wanted to know, but still had found no dragon with a gun. At one point Trucy got excited thinking she had found it, but then she realized she had misread the form and it said, "Sun dragon".

Every couple hours I'd get up for a break. I'd walk out into the hallway and get a drink from the water fountain, go to the bathroom, and close my eyes for a few minutes. I wished Vera would send us another message, but maybe she had and we weren't clever enough to have gotten it. Knowing I might never see her again made me wish that I had been more romantic with her. On my third break of the day I called Prosecutor Gavin.

"Apollo? Herr Forehead? Shouldn't you be out looking for Fraulein Vera?"

"That's why I'm calling. I was wondering- you know people in the radio business right? Can I have you do me a favor? Can you have a song played on the radio in case she's listening? I'd like her to know I'm thinking of her."

Klavier was the last person I had expected to come through on a favor to me; I mean this was the guy who rewarded Trucy and I with tickets to his concert at a percentage off instead of actually coughing up comp VIP passes. But it was my only chance and I knew that if I never saw her again at least I could feel like I tried one last time to get the message to her that I loved her. I couldn't give up hope, but as the time since her abduction lengthened I had to be honest with myself. The longer she was away the less likely we'd get her back alive.

I hung up with Prosecutor Gavin, took a deep breath, and headed back into the room to read more intimate details about criminal's physical markings.

"Yes!!!" Ema jumped from her chair. I had never seen her so excited. I ran over next to her.

"You found him?"

Her eyes had a kind of crazed glee as she tossed the notebook down.

"We got him! And we know who he works for! He's a member of the Rivales gang."

Everyone jumped from the notebooks they had been studying and crowded around Ema's. Staring back at us was the mugs hot of Ricky Rockwood, low man on the totem pole of the Rivales organized crime family.

"That's great! But what would the Rivales want with Vera?" Maya asked having at least temporarily set aside her jealousy of Ema.

"I dunno, but we'll find out scientifically."


	5. Chapter 5

To zeldakeeper: Thanks so much for reviewing my story. This has been an incredibly difficult project as the whole "woman in peril" story is a challenge for me. Anyways, I really appreciate the encouragement especially since you're an Apollo/Ema person and I think a lot of my Polly/Vera stuff goes unread because people aren't wild about the pairing.

**A couple notes to readers…it may seem like this is the end, but really the investigation is just beginning. At this point you are about half way through the story in terms of the number of pages. I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to break it into. The coolest thing for me to come out of this project has been some of the scenes that are still yet to come when Phoenix and Apollo bond while investigating (in a non-yaoi way)!**

**Anybody who may wonder how Polly and Vera got to this point in their relationship should check out "Chicken Soup for Vera" which is about their first date. "Color Theory" is just a little fluff about Vera "inspiring" Apollo's artistic talents.**

CHAPTER 5

The Rivales center of activity was known to be in the NW district not far from The Ink Spot. It was still unclear what the Rivales would specifically be needing Vera for, but it didn't matter. They were setting up to raid a warehouse by the river where members of the Rivales crime cartel had been seen coming and going from in recent weeks. The hope was that somewhere within the warehouse Vera was being held and if she wasn't that one of the gang there could be "persuaded" to tell us where she was.

Ema had agreed to bring us along on the raid as long as we stayed well behind the "front line" of officers and stayed in a patrol car. She had insisted I sit locked in the back seat like a criminal squished next to Maya and Phoenix. Trucy got to sit up front and peered at me through the bars.

The sun was now setting which meant that Vera had been gone over 54 hours. I figured the longer they waited to bust in the more risk there was of Vera not getting out of there alive so my impatience was at the extreme. Everyone kept telling me that they needed to do this right or she might end up being used as a hostage and I understood the wisdom in their words, but I was nearing a panic. I couldn't imagine her getting out of there ok. I kept eyeing the guns. With the super tight gun control laws I's never seen this many firearms in one place and it made me wonder how many the Rivales had.

"Polly, I knew Vera was picking up curse words from being around you all the time, but I didn't know you were picking up her nail biting." I looked down. I had been chewing at my fingernails without even realizing I was doing it. It's not even one of my nervous habits.

"It won't be much longer," Phoenix told me leaning slightly forward so he could see me around Maya. He probably would have patted me on the knee or something, but we were so crammed there was no way he could reach me.

We could see the plainclothes officers approaching the place. There were paramedics on hand in case she was hurt when they got to her. Ema was talking into a walky-talky and making hand signals from in front of the patrol car we were in.

Ema came over and opened the driver's door and leaned in and told us the police were about to make their move. Then she looked me in the eye and whispered to me, "Apollo, can I trust you not to do anything stupid?"

"When have I ever done anything stupid?" I said dumbly and she rolled her eyes and said, "OK. You can get out. All of you, stay out of the way for Vera's sake and your own. Scientifically speaking I shouldn't be doing this but Klavier and I are ok with you waiting by the ambulance. They'll take her there first to evaluate her."

We gathered around the corner of a building by the ambulance about one block behind the charging SWAT team. The police burst into the warehouse and I heard a rain of shots. My heart wasn't beating regularly anymore. I felt like I might faint or vomit or somehow do both at the same time. I was being turned inside out with panic, frustration, and fear. I moved forward and heard our friends shouting for me to get back, but I couldn't just watch.

There were the shouts of men's voices and a cop led out two people by the arm. I started running. I heard a loud crashing sound from inside the building as if a false wall was being busted through. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion. I couldn't tell if I was running or walking I just propelled myself to the building, but it seemed like I couldn't get there fast enough. Then I saw a couple officers walking her out. She was barefoot and dressed in a lightweight nightgown that looked like a sundress and even though it was dusk she was blinking at the sudden influx of daylight into her eyes.

Then she saw me, and her face broke into a smile and she tore herself away from the officers. They tried to grab her, not knowing what she was doing, but she ran forward eluding them and I caught her in my arms. I couldn't see her clearly because I was crying so much, but the curves of her body felt familiar and comforting to me even though she was as cold as ice. In the safety of my arms, she let out a wail and started to shake. We said nothing, but just held one another amidst the chaos. Around us the lights of patrol cars were flashing and criminal after criminal were being led out of the hideout with their hands behind their back in cuffs. A few went out on stretchers. We heard a crash and turned and a part of the building was exploding sending the cops back.

"Polly, I want to go home." She said to me and I smiled. Hearing her voice again was wonderful. It made my heart feel funny like I'd just been tickled by a feather. I had really started to lose faith that we'd ever be together again. The thought made me ashamed of myself. I couldn't imagine Phoenix ever giving up on finding Maya. He had admitted to me the extraordinary lengths he had gone to protect her doing things, he knew she wouldn't have even approved of, but I pushed all this out of mind and just allowed myself the pleasure of drinking her in. Maybe I didn't deserve her, but right now I didn't care. The important thing was she was alive. The building had just exploded, but she wasn't in it. She was safe and she had run to me.

She took my hand interlacing her fingers in mine and leaned against my shoulder. The rest of our friends were gathering around. Maya threw a blanket around Vera to shield her from the cold breeze coming off the river. Paramedics and investigators started to converge upon us but our friends had formed a blockade around us giving me a moment with her before they broke through. I brushed her dirty, stringy hair out of her face and she looked at me with a strange kind of serenity as she shivered. I moved in to kiss her but found that her cheek and lips looked bruised in places. So I just brushed her bangs out of the way and kissed her forehead instead.

I heard a rather loud voice coming from the other side of Phoenix that said, "We understand that you are, of course, overjoyed to find your friend alive, but there is a procedure to these things. She needs to be evaluated. We need to get statements from her. Now if you'll just lead her to the ambulance here we can get her to the hospital."

Vera had not taken her eyes from mine since our embrace, but hearing the voice she turned her gaze and said, "I won't go to a hospital. The only place I'm going is home." And squeezing my hand she said, "I want to go home with my friends."

"Miss, you must be evaluated. If you'll just come with me."

She sighed, "Fine, I'll come to the ambulance, but only if they come with me. All of them. They're my family and I won't go anywhere without them and I'm not going to any hospital. I'm not sick."

I had never seen Vera so willful and I realized that this was probably Vera mad. I had never really seen her angry before. She was far too patient a person to lose her temper as often as most people did, but being held captive for days had obviously made her decide that she wasn't going to take crap from anybody. It made me feel an odd sort of pride and I grinned as she ordered the EMTs around. So many people see her as a pushover to be easily manipulated. I was sure that was how Kristoph Gavin saw her, but there was so much more to her. She was a woman with her own ideas, she was just too damn sweet to make a fuss about them most of the time.

Vera and I and our friends gathered around the back of the ambulance, but she didn't release her grasp on me.

"Ask me whatever it is you need to, but Polly stays with me." The paramedics groused something awful about this saying it went against protocol and how they were going to have to check "personal things" to which she responded with impatience, "Oh, good grief! He's my boyfriend. Can we just get this taken care of? I'm cold and hungry and I WANT TO GO HOME!!"

I would have felt sorry for the paramedics had I not been so happy to hear her voice. It was strong and clear. She would be OK. She wasn't shaking anymore other than with irritation at the EMTs' need to adhere to procedure. Finally, they shrugged and pointed me to a little seat in the back of the ambulance and I sat in the chair while the rest of our family waited outside.

I felt sorry for her but she kept her eyes on me the whole time as she did all the things they told her they had to do. I closed my eyes during the most private portions of the exam and told myself that no matter what they found she was alive. She would overcome whatever she was put through if we could just get her back home.

Vera was found to be in overall good health and free from any obvious signs of "abuse", as the paramedics so delicately explained it, other than a pretty bad bruise on the back of her head, the ones on her face and some more minor ones on her arms and legs. She also had some muscle tightness related to her being restrained for such a long period of time.

Before we could take her home she gave a brief statement about what had happened to her to Detective Skye and Klavier while the rest of us were gathered around. We were right about the details of her abduction. She had swung the door open expecting me and instead had been met by two large armed men. They forced their way into the apartment and knocked her out with something she guessed was like chloroform. She woke up sometime later taped to a chair with a pillowcase over her head. Eventually, she had met her kidnappers and was put to work creating a bunch of forgeries. They never let her leave the windowless cold room they had kept her in even to use the bathroom. Instead they had made her use a bucket in the corner.

"Sorry, I know it's gross, but I gave the paramedics some papers I slipped into my panties when I went to the pot. They show the name of the person they're trying to frame. I don't know who it is, but the name sounds familiar. I think they're trying to make it look like she's taking bribes but they were making me fabricate the entire thing. I don't want anyone to be caused anymore harm by me. I swear I didn't want to do it." She looked at Phoenix and started crying. He came over to her and told her to hush, that nothing was her fault. She had always remained very quiet about her work, but I could see now how tortured she must be to have Phoenix as one of her closest friends when it was her work that had lost him his attorney's badge. Everyday she was forced to be reminded of how her talents had stolen away his ability to use his.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never wanted any of this." She was starting to break down. She was still holding my hand and crying onto Pheonix's shoulder and Phoenix just kept whispering to her that it didn't matter and that everything was going to be ok.

"Vera needs to go home now." Maya announced very matter-of-factly. "You can contact Nick if you need something. We're all going home now." I picked Vera up and handed her to Phoenix and then I hopped from the ambulance and took her back in my arms and we had a cab take us home.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

It must have been hard for Vera going back into her apartment since it was there she got nabbed, but she kept insisting that what she wanted most of all was to go home and get cleaned up, but before she could be allowed the dignity of a bath a court appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Jonas, showed up to speak with her. I knew it was a really good idea for her to talk to someone like that given all she'd been through but as he escorted her into the privacy of her bedroom for a chat she looked back at me with sad eyes. I think she really just wanted to take a bath, and maybe she told the doctor that because it was only a short time before they both reappeared.

In the meantime, Trucy had dashed downstairs and brought up an armload of toiletry products so that Vera could have her choice of bubble bath fragrances. I wondered where Trucy kept all that stuff. The bathroom in the office wasn't even that big.

"You sure you don't want to rest first?" I asked Vera after she reemerged from meeting with Dr. Jonas. I didn't want to admit it, but I was worried Vera was so exhausted she might fall asleep and drown in the bathtub if left alone and I felt awkward about escorting her into the bath with everybody else around. Thankfully, Trucy came to my rescue volunteering to keep Vera company after she was "settled" and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that my girlfriend hadn't just been rescued from thugs to meet a tragic perfumey death by bubbles.

Before Dr. Jonas left, he briefly spoke with Phoenix and me.

"You must be Apollo," he said offering me his hand. "And Mr. Wright, I believe we met a long time ago." Phoenix nodded his recognition.

"I was called here to offer Ms. Misham support as I also met with her at the time of her initial incarceration after her father's death. Typically, I would be unable to speak with you about the details of our discussions but she has given me permission. She says you are her family now."

Phoenix bowed his head humbly in acknowledgement.

"Vera doesn't want to be alone right now. She is going to want and need constant companionship. She was held as though in solitary confinement for a fairly lengthy period of time with no sense of day or night. This in addition to the violation of being abducted will lead her to feel very vulnerable. You should not be surprised if she has flashbacks. Things may trigger unpleasant memories for her of the events of the last few days or even bring back memories of earlier traumatic events."

"Then is it really a good idea for her to be here? I mean, this is where she was attacked." I looked around her apartment. It was strange to believe that such a violent and horrible thing could happen here. It looked so cozy and friendly or at least to me it did, but I suppose I was biased.

"It may cause her some pain and initiate some flashbacks, but it would cause her much greater discomfort to be placed in an entirely unfamiliar place. Vera's sheltered lifestyle has led her to cling to the familiar and routine. She loves her home and with your support she can again function well here."

I nodded. This was all stuff I knew about her, though I might not have been able to explain it as well as a professional. Vera needed her home and Vera needed us, but I didn't like thinking of her as needy. Vera was…well I couldn't think of the right word…

"And Apollo, when I say she isn't to be left alone, I don't mean you must be with her all the time. You will find it very fatiguing to support her through this and she may cling to you more than is healthy for either of you, so make sure you and your family are taking turns supporting her and that you're taking care of yourselves, too."

This seemed like a harsh warning to me as if Vera had been transformed into some kind of leech we had to care for, but I didn't say anything. I just took the man's card and told him that we'd call if we needed anything. He gave Phoenix a couple of prescriptions in case Vera needed something to help her sleep or started having panic attacks and then he left.

I took a deep breath and went to sit on the couch. Phoenix came over and sat beside me. It had been a helluva week. I was sure none of us had bathed since Vera was taken and we'd barely eaten or slept and from the sound of it more fun awaited us. Poor Vera! If only we could magically make her forget the last few days had happened. I wished I could rewind time. I could have spent the night at her apartment and they might never have come for her or I could have at least given them a fight, made a bunch of noise, something.

Phoenix turned to look at me and smiled for the first time in days, "Don't worry your instincts will tell you how to help Vera get through this."

"You sure? I'm just learning how to be her boyfriend and now I'm going to need to…" I trailed off. I didn't really understand what I needed to do. Just be there I guessed or was I supposed to do something more? Was there more I could do?

"That's exactly what you need to do. Be her boyfriend and let us help you guys to get through this."

"Yeah, we're totally here for you," said Maya from the kitchen. Her appetite had obviously returned and she was pulling leftovers out of Vera's fridge and sniffing them. "See I'm already helping with cleaning! Polly, you got any idea when Vera made this lasagna?"

I laughed. I could understand why Maya might strike people as air-heady but really she was just about the most honest person I knew. She worked on instinct. Maybe that's why she and Phoenix were so good together. They were both totally off-the-cusp kind of people. It made them really fun to be around. If you were nice to Maya you were Maya's friend. It didn't matter who you were, what you looked like, how much or how little money you had, and she was always up for adventure. Pretty amazing considering she had been the victim of violence, too. It gave me hope that maybe Vera wouldn't come out of this a totally shattered person.

"See, it'll be fine," chuckled Phoenix as he watched Maya make a scrunched up face and poke at something in a ziploc baggie. "So while Trucy's helping Vera get cleaned up and my fiancée is raiding Vera's fridge you should go downstairs and get your stuff. You're going to need to move up here for a while." It didn't sound like I had been given any leeway to argue and I had no desire to. I could hardly stand having Vera out of my sight. So, I went down to the office and threw some of my extra clothes in a bag along with my extra pair of beat up tennis shoes, and my toothbrush. I didn't grab my suit. I figured there was no way I'd be taking cases for a while and if I had to it was here. I looked around. I didn't have much else I needed or cared about. I grabbed the three non-law books I owned and tossed them in the sack too. As I was about to leave I turned around and pulled the Color Theory painting off my wall to bring with me. I figured it would do both Vera and me some good to remember happier times.

Upstairs I moved a half painted canvas off her easel and set our finished work on it. I heard sounds coming from the bathroom and in a few minutes Vera emerged wearing her pink fluffy bathrobe that was printed with butterflies. She looked clean and smelt great but she still looked downright exhausted.

"I'm going to bed." She said.

"I'll come too."

Everybody else said their goodbyes and told us to call if we needed anything.

"Trucy and I'll come check on you two in the morning, ok?" said Maya.

"Yeah, just let yourselves in, ok?"

They nodded and each of them gave Vera a hug, even Phoenix who had never really struck me as the hugging type.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Vera and I headed in to bed to get some much-needed rest. As she took off her robe I was relieved to see that a lot of the marks on her had disappeared. I guess they had mostly been grime after all except for a prominent one on her face and a few on her legs. The bad one was under her hair so I couldn't see it. I wondered what she had done to get beat up or if they had just hit her for some kind of sick pleasure. She lay on the bed next to me and spooned her back up to me. She smelt like rose petals. I didn't expect to be able to sleep, but as soon as I wrapped my arms around her I conked out.

I woke up to the sound of Vera crying. I don't think she had gotten a wink of sleep. She sat up on the bed looking at me and I could see that her eyes looked droopy and even her head seemed to be hanging low.

"Polly, I can't sleep."

"You want me to make you some tea?" Vera often drank an herbal tea that she said calmed her nerves and helped her sleep.

She shook her head and I was about to suggest something else that might cheer her up when she kissed me. Her lips tasted salty from her tears and there was a sense of desperation to her that I'd never felt before as if she thought if she wasn't all over me I might disappear. I had to admit I kind of knew the feeling.

She wrapped her arms around my neck so tightly it hurt and sobbed into my ear, "I thought I was never going to see you again. I was so scared. I hate myself."

"What?"

"I couldn't do anything to stop them. I couldn't fight back. I might as well have had a target painted right on me."

"Vera," I said gently, but she kept sobbing. "Vera, sweetie, look at me… I don't think **I** could have fought off those guys. You shouldn't be upset because you couldn't. You did the best thing you could do given the circumstances you got me a message. It was because of that we found you so fast."

I realized when I said that that "fast" wasn't the correct word. It hadn't been fast at all, but I hated to think how things might have turned out without her clue.

"Polly, Polly don't leave me. Please don't leave me." She was pressing herself against me as if she were hoping to meld our bodies into one.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm not going anywhere. I've even got my toothbrush. Vera, I think you'll have to kick me out to get me to leave you alone again. Really…it's ok."

She loosened her hold on me slightly and started rocking a little. I wondered what time it was.

"You want to watch TV?"

"No, the bed feels nice." Vera's only television was in the living room. I tried to think of something else we could do to distract ourselves. She obviously didn't want to paint or draw right now and she looked too tired to read.

"Hey, how bout I read you a story?" She looked at me. "What story?"

I got up and fumbled in my bag and pulled out my three books. One was a battered paperback copy of a Western, one was a hardcover about aliens, and one was my favorite book from when I was a little, _The Princess and the Pirate_.

"This one. _The Princess and the Pirate_. I've been meaning to reread it. It was my favorite when I was in grade school."

Even through her exhaustion I could tell the idea pleased her. I knew she was a sucker for anything having to do with my childhood. I guess she thought the whole orphan thing had a kind of mystique about it. Sometimes she would make up stories about who my parents might be. There was one where I was born in secret because I was the love child of a celebrity. My favorite was the one where my mother and father were mortally injured in a car wreck and with the last ounces of his energy my father had delivered me from my dying mother and carried me away from the flaming vehicle and I was found alive in his embrace, his final ounce of energy being used to save me. Too bad it was more likely that my mother was some poor underage girl who'd been taken advantage of.

"You just lay down and I'll read it to you till you fall asleep. Ok?"

Vera nodded and lay next to me as I sat in the bed and began to read.

As I read the story I found myself getting sucked back into the adventure and drama of it all. It was a very pleasant escape from the anxiety of the last few days but when the princess was introduced I started to get embarrassed. It reminded me a lot of Vera. In the story a young swashbuckling scalliwag saves the princess from the isolation of her tower in order to earn the gold of the Barbarian king, but before the pirate gives the princess to the king he discovers that he himself has fallen in love with the fair maiden.

The princess didn't simply make me think about Vera because I was in love with her. The princess talked like her and giggled like her and spent her life sheltered away from the world. I wondered if Vera was noticing the similarities. I felt like I was confessing my undying affection for her through the pages of a sappy adventure story geared for fourth graders, but Vera said nothing. She just listened with a serene look on her face and finally drifted off sometime during Chapter 5. I was relieved that she had gone to sleep because the thought that my ideal woman had been formed in my mind at the age of nine and that Vera matched it to a tee was a little much for me to take in, at least given the events of the last seventy-two hours or so. Plus, I was sure that if Vera was more alert she would have caught the similarities and be having everyone call me pirate names from then on. I'd come to accept "Polly," but "Captain Polly" or "RedVest the Something or Other" would simply be too much.


	8. Chapter 8

Risenfromash: Hi. Thanks for the positive feedback. I've posted three more chapters today and I think you'll see why I aired on the side of safety and rated the story M. I really wish there was both M and MA on this site as I would then have an easier time rating my stories…oh, well. Happy reading, I hope

CHAPTER 8

The next couple of days were crazy. Vera's evidence provided proof that the Rivales were trying to frame Susan Bennett for larceny and bribe taking so that they could get the Freedom Party candidate to take her place in the Assembly. This led to the collapse of the entire Freedom Party with a lot of important people all fighting over who knew what when and who should ultimately be held responsible. It made for a media circus at the capitol and at our building where the 24-hour news networks positioned themselves outside as if we would be dumb enough to let Vera just wander out to speak to them.

Vera spoke little instead choosing to observe and listen to those around her. Trucy told her jokes and performed magic to amuse her. I read more of _The Princess and_ _the Pirate_ to distract her and Maya did everything from singing karaoke to styling Vera's hair in an attempt to cheer her up. We all knew it was going to take time for Vera to return to normal, but I was wary. Vera still wasn't drawing or painting and I knew that was not a good sign. Even after her father's death she had drawn, using it as her only real outlet.

I felt like something wasn't quite right but Phoenix said to give it time and to expect that Vera would try to pretend everything was perfectly okay.

"It'll be a while before she'll open up again. Try not to take it personally, Apollo. You know she loves you- its just going to be hard until she gets to the point she's ready to talk." Coming from anybody else I might have found this advice trite, but he and Maya had been through this so I knew he had to be right. He was probably the only one who could really understand the anguish I was going through. Now, I better understood why he was so protective of Maya. I felt like I might go insane if Vera were left alone ever again.

So, night after night I'd lay with her in bed as she struggled to sleep. Often, I'd think she was asleep because she wouldn't be moving and her breathing would slow, but I'd find she was just laying there with her eyes wide open staring into space. We tried the sleeping medications, but she said they gave her a headache when she woke up so she never liked taking them.

And still her art pad lay on her bedside table untouched since her return from captivity. Instead, she kept her pink chenille blanket with her at all times stroking it rhythmically. Sometimes she'd sit on the couch rocking back and forth with her blanket only stopping when she became aware that I was watching her.

I had the nagging feeling that Vera was hiding something. I knew that something was really bothering her, but she wasn't going to share it with me or anyone else without a fight. I hated the thought of trying to pry her secret from her, but I finally decided I was going to have to press her. So one night as I lay holding her in bed I took a deep breath and started to again ask the questions I knew I probably wouldn't like the answers to.

"Vera, I know you told the police that none of those men…" I was trying to choose a word. "HURT you while you were there, but is there something you're not telling us? Vera, you didn't do anything wrong. Nothing that happened to you is your fault, you understand that right?"

She looked down at her blanket. "Polly, I'm fine. Nothing happened. You don't need to worry."

Part of me thought I should let it go, but I still didn't think she was telling me the truth and I felt like both us needed to talk about whatever was bothering her. So, I started again.

"What you went through is awful, Vera, but I'm worried you're trying to protect ME. I feel like there is something you're not talking about because you don't think I can handle it. Tell me or talk to Maya or Phoenix or somebody, anybody."

"Nothing happened." And then for the first time outside the courtroom I felt my bracelet tighten. She was lying. She was snuggled up beside me in her bed lying to me, not because she wanted to but because she had something to say that I didn't want to hear.

"Vera," I took a deep breath. "Vera, you're lying to me and I know it."

"NOTHING HAPPENED!!!" She screamed at me and then she started to sob. She buried her face in my chest and the tears were coming in such a flood that they immediately soaked through my T-shirt. I ran my fingers through her hair. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to traumatize her by pushing her further and I sure didn't want to make her mad at me, but I couldn't imagine that keeping a secret about something that happened while she was away from us was a good idea.

Then I remembered a similar conversation she and I had once had about semantics. The morning after our first date she had pointed out how we had spent an incredibly romantic evening together that was very meaningful to us, but many people would categorize it as "nothing" because we hadn't had sex.

"Vera, what DID happen then?"

"That's just it, Polly. Nothing. I'm so lucky I shouldn't be upset, but I keep thinking about one of them. I was so scared that he would…"

The truth was finally out. She looked up at me and she looked just like she had before she collapsed in the courtroom that day.

"I can't close my eyes, Polly. I keep thinking he's going to come and grab me, but all he ever did was look at me. It's like people say; I don't know anything. I'm scared of my own shadow. I can't function in the real world."

"You are not stupid! And being kidnapped does not function as the real world, sweetie. Anyone would be terrified after what you've gone through. You don't know how proud I am of you."

"Proud of me? Why would you be PROUD of me? I was stupid. I let them in my apartment. I wasn't strong enough to fight them off. I had to do everything they told me to do. I was helpless. I would have done…almost anything just to stay alive. That's not brave."

I couldn't believe she really thought so little of herself.

"Vera, you listen to me. I'm proud of you because you did everything you could to get out of there alive so we could be together again. You helped us find you. You sent us the clue that helped find you. That's not nothing. So you're not an Amazon woman who could fight off two huge thugs…do you really think that makes you stupid or somehow deserving of this?"

She wasn't looking at me. I reached over and turned her head toward me.

"No, don't ignore me. You need to hear this and understand it. No one deserves what you went through not even the most horrible criminal, but Vera you are one of the most honest and kind people I have ever met. Please don't let this change you. Don't let this make you think you are anything less than wonderful. You have seen some of the worst in people, I know, but most people aren't like this and you… you're one of the great ones, the selfless and compassionate ones."

"Polly, you're just saying that."

"No, I'm not. I wish you'd believe me. I'm not saying this because I love you. It's _why_ I love you."

"This is my fault. I'm a criminal that's why this happened to me."

I was about to launch into my usual defense of Vera's actions explaining for what felt like the hundredth time that she was too young to understand the impact of her actions when she snuggled up to me and said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I've no right. I know you're only trying to help." I told her to hush and I kissed her and held her to me. Then she said something that surprised me.

"If you were to dedicate a song to me on the radio what song would it be?" I had completely forgotten about Klavier's promise to me. Had she really heard it?

""_I'll See You Tonight_- it's a good song, but it also-"

She looked at me and smiled. "I knew it was a message from you! 'To Angel From Spike'" She ran her hands through my spiky bangs. "I remembered how some kids used to call you that. How did you know I'd hear it?"

"I didn't. I called in a favor. Klavier must have had it play on a bunch of stations."

Vera looked at me with pure enchantment on her face, like Cinderella looking at Prince Charming at the ball. And then I broke down. I was muttering my regrets that I had given up hope that I had not believed that we were fated to see one another again that I was a jerk without any faith in anything, but I don't think she could make out most of what I was saying as my mouth was buried in her shoulder.

"What? What's wrong?"

She pulled her shoulder away from me and leaned down to look me directly in the eyes. "What are you so upset about?"

"I did it because I thought I'd never see you again. I was giving up and I realized I've never told you that I love you. Really love you. The last time we said goodbye before they took you, you said, "I love you." And I said something stupid like "see you later" or something."

Vera looked at me with amusement. "That's bothering you?"

"Yes!" I was emphatic. "If you had died and my last words to you were 'See ya later' I'd never have forgiven myself. I mean how can I have somebody as wonderful as you for a girlfriend and not be telling you I love you?"

"Polly, you think way too much and sometimes it is about the strangest things. Maybe it's a lawyer thing? I hadn't even noticed that you hadn't said it. I mean I guess a girl is supposed to think that's some kind of milestone, getting a guy to say they love her, but I just kind of assumed. I mean you're here every night making me tea just the way I like it and taking care of Henry and holding me while I freak out and I don't know…I haven't ever worried you didn't care for me. You're a very caring person. I think that's why everybody thinks Trucy's your girlfriend. You just care about people. I noticed it right away. You just wanted to get to the truth and help me. That's why Mr. Phoenix chose you. Did you know that?"

I shook my head. "You probably thought he was just having the last laugh on Kristoph, but really you're the first lawyer he found with Mia's values. He waited all those years for the right person to come along to help him prove his innocence. That person was you."

"Vera, I gave up on you. The song was my goodbye to you."

"You did not give up on me, you were being realistic. Polly, things were not looking very good to me either. You may think I don't pay attention when you talk to me about cases, but I've learned a few things and one thing I learned was if you see their faces they aren't letting you go."

I remembered telling her that about an abduction case I had studied in college.

_Great table conversation for dinner with your girlfriend, Apollo. Real brilliant._

"Look none of this matters now. I don't want to talk about it. I just want to enjoy your company and have things feel normal again."

"Vera, I love you."

"Polly, you don't have to say it. You show it to me everyday. Don't force yourself to do something that doesn't feel natural just because you think you're supposed to."

"That's just it Vera. I want to say it- and I'm sorry I didn't sooner."

"Well, I love you too, Polly" and then she smiled mischievously and said, "Or should I say Captain Polly Want a Cracker?"

I looked at her and shook my head in irritation and she giggled.

_I swear this girl can read my thoughts. She probably did think I'd told her I loved her. She probably read it all over my brainwaves._


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Two days later I received a call from Detective Skye. She had been trying to find excuses for further postponing the trials of the kidnappers because none of us felt that Vera was stable enough to testify yet. Vera had already been through one traumatic trial and reentering the courtroom under these circumstances seemed like we were asking for trouble.

"Apollo? I wanted to let you know we found something when we went through the wreckage where Vera was held. Seems she was under surveillance the whole time she was there. There was a camera in one of the vents which means we may not need Vera to testify…but it also means there's some pretty disturbing footage. Do you want to talk to her or you want me to?"

I assured Ema that I'd let Vera know when I thought the time was right and Ema surprised me by saying, "You're a good guy, Apollo."

But I wasn't feeling like a good guy. I found myself thinking a lot about those tapes. It wasn't unreasonable that they would have been watching her, but I found myself wondering specifically who had been watching that camera and I found myself wanting to see the footage for myself.

That afternoon while Maya and Trucy kept Vera company Phoenix and I met in the office to discuss the progress of the case against the kidnappers and the associated charges against the Rivales gang members and Freedom Party members and, of course, to talk about Vera.

"How's Vera?"

"She's ok, I guess, but she keeps blaming herself for all this. It can't be rational, but I keep hoping I can get through to her."

"Ema called me earlier today and told me that they found a video camera in the wreckage of the warehouse, some kind of webcam or something."

"Yeah, she told me that, too. I guess it's good in a way. Vera won't really need to testify if they have the film of what happened to her."

I wasn't sure if what I was thinking made me fit the profile of an obsessive boyfriend, but I figured Phoenix would understand. He looked at me.

"Is something wrong, Apollo?"

"Yeah. Maybe I just need to get over all this and quit being paranoid, but something's been bothering me. Vera's hiding something from all of us. One of her captors in particular scared her more than the others and I know that the paramedics and the detectives and her all say that she wasn't…" I couldn't even say the word. It choked too much in my throat. "But, Phoenix, something happened something bad. Has Ema watched the tapes yet?" Maybe I was just seeing something sinister where there was nothing, but Vera wasn't complaining about the cold or her shoulder being torqued to tape her to a chair or being ordered around. She was scared to death of the way a man _looked_ at her. Something this one guy did to her or acted like he would do was making her lie and that wasn't ok with me.

Phoenix got up from the couch and paced for a moment or two.

"You say she's lying to YOU?"

"To all of us. I don't know why. I don't know if she's protecting me or she's ashamed or what, but she's definitely covering something up."

"Well, that's not right. Vera has done nothing wrong. I'm sure of that and if any of these assholes did something to make her feel that way they deserve to be punished for it- to the fullest extent of the law. Wouldn't you say, Apollo?"

I nodded. He and I were on the same page. Phoenix didn't like to see anyone innocent suffer and Vera was just about as innocent as they come.

"Come on. Let's go do some investigating."

It was kind of funny me and Phoenix heading out to investigate together, because I realized that while I felt like he helped me with cases he didn't that much. More than anything he offered a sympathetic ear when I needed to gripe about the endless sea of paperwork associated with being a lawyer and how Klavier kept calling me Herr Forehead and stuff. Mr. Wright was definitely my mentor, but in a kind of hands-off way. He was there when I needed him, though sometimes it was to do nothing but ignore me thereby convincing me I could figure stuff out on my own.

We walked briskly to the Police Station. Ema wasn't in her office and so we had to ask around to find that she was in a media viewing room. I knew what that meant. She was watching the recordings and we needed to know what was on them.

Phoenix pounded on the door and she let us in.

She looked at me. "I figured you'd show up."

"Look, Ema, we want to make sure these bastards get the book thrown at 'em and we think there may be more charges you can book them with."

"I do to, but I'm in a huge time crunch. They're rushing us to trial and I don't even have enough time to watch all of these." She waved her hand over a pile of CD-roms. I found myself staring at them. Vera's entire captivity recorded. When I heard about their existence it hadn't seemed real. I was focused on Vera. Getting her to sleep, making sure she was eating something, trying to entice her to draw or paint, but now I felt myself drawn to them. Perhaps it wasn't a healthy desire, but it wasn't the twisted rubbernecking people do at the scene of a car accident either. I didn't _want_ to watch them, but I found myself compelled to do so. Vera hadn't talked a lot about her experience. She had said less about it than she did about what she might make us for dinner one night or a book she was reading. She didn't want to talk about it, but I wanted to better understand. I wanted to know more.

Standing by the viewing station I stared down at the disks. Ema needed help viewing so many hours of footage and I needed to find out what exactly had happened that Vera was lying about.

Phoenix put his hand on my shoulder. "Apollo, I know what you're thinking, but don't. I'll do it. You don't need to put yourself through this. I'll help Ema go through them to look for anything and we'll tell you what we find. Go have a good day with Vera. Relax. I know you're not sleeping."

"Thanks." I said, my vision never straying from the shiny disks on the desk. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but Vera endured it. The least I can do is to endure watching it."

I looked at Ema. She had every right to kick both Phoenix and I out. We were probably violating a bunch of laws or rules of some kind. She picked up a Snackoo from a bag of them on her desk and ate it slowly as she pondered what to do.

Phoenix leaned in and spoke quietly into my ear, "Apollo, are you doing this to help Vera or to punish yourself for not being able to stop her from getting hurt? What's done is done."

I pushed him away and said "Phoenix, Ema, I need to know what they did to her and we need to see these guys are locked up for a very long time."

"I respect that." Said Ema taking the last bite of her Snackoo.

"Me, too," said Phoenix. "So let's get to work."

"Agreed."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Ema called for another viewing station to be brought in, but as we waited for the other computer she put the first disk in the computer in silence. At first the room was empty. Then we saw at least four men come into the room. Two carrying a limp pale thing in their arms that at first I thought was a bedsheet and then I realized it was Vera. I gasped a little seeing her body look so lifeless. It was freaky. She had a pillowcase or something over her head and they carried her to the chair in the room. One of the men pulled a roll of black electrical tape out of his jacket and proceeded to tape her to the chair while the others held her limp body in place. Their hands were all over her as they taped her up, and I thought maybe Phoenix was right. Maybe I shouldn't be watching this; it might drive me to kill someone. And there Vera was, head covered, taped up and left alone. No one was even there to make sure she woke up. She was left like that for hours.

"Sorry, but we're going to need to fast forward till she comes to. Phoenix watch the timer. Let's see how long she was out for." Ema said scrawling notes on a pad of notebook paper.

We fast-forwarded until Vera started to twitch a little.

"About four hours from when they brought her in."

"Shit! They didn't check on her once!" I couldn't believe anyone could have so little consideration for human life.

"They probably figured they didn't have to. They were watching her through the camera. Jerks!" Ema commented as she scribbled some more notes on the pad of paper.

Vera started vocalizing. At first it was just moans and groans, but then she started shouting. The sound on the recording was crap, but I could tell she was trying a bunch of different tactics to get help or at the least get the attention of her captors. She yelled for help. She yelled fire. She threatened them that Phoenix and I would find them and torture them, but she used more colorful language than I had ever heard her say before.

"I think you've been rubbing off on her." Phoenix commented somberly.

"That's not a good thing is it?" I asked, but he didn't respond.

I was probably driving Ema and Phoenix insane as I couldn't hold still while watching the tape. I was shaking and crying and pacing while attempting to stay vigilant, but they never complained.

We all wanted to see what happened between Vera and the one she feared so much came in contact with each other. And then we saw it. She was screaming her head off shouting for help or warmth or anything they would give her and he came into the room with a knife, a big knife. He looked at her menacingly and slapped her across the face. Ema set down the half munched Snackoo she was eating and leaned forward just in time to see as he moved towards her with the knife. He made a move like maybe to touch her breast…I leapt toward the screen. My hands formed into tight fists. Then a skinnier guy came into the frame stepping between Vera and the menacing one and used his own pocketknife to cut the tape that had held Vera in place for the previous ten hours.

Phoenix looked up at me and scratched his head. "That may not be enough."

Ema taped her fingers on the desk. "Well, we've got another sixty some hours to go." And then in a much softer tone I heard her murmur, "Poor, Vera."

I wanted to kill this guy. I wanted to rip him apart, but instead Phoenix and I just seated ourselves in front of the other viewing station that had arrived and prepared to watch more grueling footage of the woman I loved in the hands of totally evil people. Ema would finish watching the disk we had been watching and we would start the next one. Even with the three of us we still didn't have enough time before the trial to watch it all in real time. So we fast-forwarded stopping only to see the interactions between Vera and the kidnappers. I was glad we weren't watching and listening to it all, because there were parts of the time Vera was talking to her dead father and it seemed private, like something that wasn't met for me or anybody else's ears. We saw the kidnappers come in with some bedding and a sandwich for her which she scarved down. If I did my calculations correctly she hadn't been given food or anything to drink for at least 14 hours. They also gave her a bucket to use as a toilet just as she had described. One of the kidnappers gave her a spiral notebook and a pencil.

"Did she just thank him?" I asked incredulously.

Phoenix nodded and smirked.

"Then I'm not rubbing off enough on her. She should have stabbed him with the pencil."

Phoenix turned his bloodshot eyes at me and said, "Vera is much smarter than you. Don't ever forget that."

And I found myself smiling. "She's got much better manners, too."

We fast-forwarded through Vera drawing and stopped the tape when a different person appeared to tell her what they wanted her to do. They brought in a card table and a couple boxes of supplies, which she rejected and we saw her write a list for them of the things she needed. Later they returned with the items and she set to work. Now they kept one person with her to ensure she was working. Though mainly all the guys did was lean against the wall listening to a portable radio and chain-smoking, which made Vera cough.

Vera didn't ever go to the bedroll. She just worked at the table. She moved things around.

"I think she's stalling. Vera doesn't fuss that much with her supplies." I pointed to the way she was lining everything up and moving things from one side of the card table to the other.

Phoenix nodded. "Yeah, Vera's normally really efficient. I think you're right. She's trying to buy us time. She really didn't want to have to forge anything ever again."

It was about 6 hours before her release when at least five men entered the room. We could see Vera get up from the chair to talk to them. We heard them say something to her and then she threw herself at them screaming and pummeling them with ineffectual punches.

"What the hell'd they say to her?"

Ema got up from her viewing station and came over to see what we had found.

We turned up the volume and all three of us strained our ears. It was choppy but after watching it a few times we could finally make it out.

"Vera, you…ly girl. Did you think…n't figure out? You are taking too long…"

"These things take time…months…" Vera sobbed. She was pleading for them to give her more time.

"We don.. ave time!"

"I can't work any faster and have………..ok credible. I'm do…best…can."

"Well, I ..ess you need some incentive. That youn…ttorney…ou'r…fond of…I think your pet name… is…olly. Well, we have him and……ttle…friend."

"No!! You couldn't. You're bluff… Ther…no way…"

"Oh, we are professional criminals just like you. You have tools…we have ours…he's so fond of you…was too easy."

And then Vera threw herself at the speaker and they slapped her away like a fly. She lay on the floor looking up at them begging for the lives of Trucy and me.

"I'll do anything! Anything…ease…don't hurt…"

And then the leader said something that immediately struck me as ominous. "Well you just work faster and we'll see what we can do. In the meantime we'll have Ron keep you company." And the one we had seen threaten her with the knife stepped forward. They all knew what he wanted and they were using her fear of him.

Vera got up and ran to her table and continued to work looking terrified and the man moved to sit by her feet still holding his ridiculously large knife. Vera was shaking and he seemed to be enjoying it. She was crying and trying not to get the forgeries she was working on wet. He was saying things to her in such a low tone we couldn't hear most of it. But we made out enough to know he was trying to lure her to the corner of the room where the camera didn't go and he was using Trucy and I as a bargaining chip. Vera was breaking down. She got up from the chair and I found myself screaming at the screen.

I put my head in my hands and was crying so hard I couldn't see. "Vera, Vera, no. They're lying. He's lying to you!"

"Polly, Polly look! What is she doing?" Ema pointed at the screen and I saw that Vera had grabbed something from the art supply table it looked like a little blade or something. At first she pointed it at him, but he just sneered at her. He was easily twice as big as her and his knife was ginormous. There was no contest. She looked like her resolve was about to give out but then suddenly Vera's eyes shot over to the radio and she went from looking panicked to having a kind of self-satisfied determination on her face. They were playing my dedication to her on the radio and it inspired Vera to switch tactics. Now she held the blade right up to her own wrist.

And then clear as a bell we heard her voice say, "You make a move and I'll kill myself." Her attacker looked stunned and shouted back at her, "Don't you want your friends to live?" Vera looked at him and pressed the blade closer to herself. "I know they're not letting me out of here alive and I don't believe you have Trucy or Polly…and if you do they'll just have to forgive me."

But as she said it her resolve faltered ever so slightly and he made a move to jump at her knocking her to the ground. Her head hit the floor and the blade got knocked from her hand. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her out of the view of the camera as Vera screamed for help, but we knew the police wouldn't be arriving for another hour. I cringed. Why hadn't she told us? Why?

And then a bunch of the other kidnappers came into the room. They punched him in the face and drug him out of the room. Vera was sobbing and rose to her knees thanking them for getting him away from her and all the leader said was that they would have let him do whatever it was he wanted, but she had work to do. "Remember you may think you've got nothing to lose but I know you want your friends to live. So don't pull another stunt like that or we'll have three bodies on our hands."

Ema stopped the tape.

"I need to go talk to Klavier. Right now." Phoenix nodded and Ema ran out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

Risenfromash: Howdy! This is the final chapter of "Stolen Angel" and it proved to be my favorite due to Phoenix and Apollo's conversations with one another…I hope you enjoy the conclusion and read my notes at the end… I will be writing a follow-up…

CHAPTER 11

Phoenix had a plan. I was never to refer to the man as my client or in anyway say that I would be representing him. Instead, I would merely let the guards and anyone else run under the misassumption that I was acting as his defense attorney. Therefore, while I might be intentionally misleading those around me I was not lying forthright and therefore not committing an ethics code violation.

We collected necessary pieces of evidence to utilize when questioning him. First we got copies of the surveillance tapes from Ema and a photo of Vera and some newspaper clippings about the plot to frame Assembly Member Bennett. Phoenix looked over some background on the criminal, Ronald Hindee, but I was too agitated to. I trusted Phoenix to get the info we needed and I was focusing my energy on what he had told me. Vera and Maya expected us to be better people than these villains. I couldn't break Vera's heart by doing something violent even though there was nothing that would have pleased me more than stringing this guy up.

At the detention center we were met with few questions. I had had some concerns that they might suspect something if they remembered Vera was my girlfriend, but sadly at the detention center they are far too used to tangled, conflicts of interest to even bother trying to sort them out anymore. So, the defendant was brought to us without any difficulty or fanfare. In the guards mind he was just another loser meeting with his attorney in hopes of finding a way to weasel a shorter sentence out of the screwed up legal system. If only they knew the truth!

Mr. Hindee was a huge greasy guy who didn't even strike me as human, but that could be because he had done such inhumane things to Vera. He had a black eye and bruises and marks on his arms as though he had recently been in a fight.

I introduced myself and Phoenix and he said a gruff, "What do you want?"

"I have some questions to ask you about the kidnapping of Ms. Vera Misham." Saying her name made me feel like butterflies were swimming in my chest, but I tried my best to ignore my lovesick sensation and act professional.

"Questions, huh? Well, I ain't answering any for anybody."

I proceeded as I would with any client showing little evidence bits, but he ignored them all and just as Phoenix had told me he would he nodded and I reached into my briefcase pretending to be reaching for one more piece of evidence to present but instead put my hand on the smooth, hard magatama. I had expected it to feel cold, but instead it seemed to be radiating heat. The heat flowed like a river up my fingers and spread throughout my body across my chest. And when it reached my eyes I thought I was about to pass out because the world grew dark and only Mr. Hindee was displayed. He still sat there sneering at us but chains appeared over him and three locks formed. Phoenix looked at him with confidence and I realized that whatever was happening he was the master of it. Apparently what I was experiencing was what was supposed to happen, leave it to Phoenix to not better prepare me of what to expect.

Mr. Wright than held up a CD from the webcam and said, "I believe that you not only assisted in the unlawful detention of Vera Misham, but also suggested monitoring her room with a webcam. You convinced your bosses they could ensure she was working that way," the first lock shattered. "But I believe you had another motive." As he said this Phoenix's hand entered the briefcase and clamped over mine forcing me to squeeze the magatama tighter. He knew I wanted to kill this man, but he had told me we only had one chance at this because he was going to have to use some special methods. I figured he had meant the magatama… I had no idea he meant the classic Phoenix Wright bluff. While clasping my hand he pulled the exact same CD out of my briefcase and held it up to him.

"Isn't it true that you were in fact copying the surveillance tapes to keep at your home? Just like this one here found at your apartment?" the second lock shattered. He was a voyeur. How had Phoenix figured that out? But Phoenix was on a roll and the momentum was building. Only one more lock to go…

"Isn't it true you didn't want to stop there and intended to rape her when you were left alone with her?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd have some fun. What of it? You can't prove it."

"Yes, I can. Those bruises all over you weren't there when these recordings were made but they were there when the police arrived an hour later. Isn't it true you weren't following the Rivales' orders and were therefore punished? Isn't it true that if the cops hadn't gotten there when they did you would have, in fact, been killed for your interference with the work the Rivales had kidnapped Vera to do?"

The third lock shattered. After that he spilled his guts. He said a lot of really disgusting things and as soon as I knew Detective Skye had gotten his confession I went into the bathroom and threw up. I felt confused. I had a bunch of her kidnappers to thank for saving her from this rogue thug. It didn't make me feel comforted.

I stepped out of the bathroom stall and saw Pheonix leaning against the wall of the men's room.

"It'll be ok, Apollo. You'll see. The Rivales are done. The Freedom Party is dead."

"I guess that's supposed to make me feel better, huh?" I said looking at myself in the mirror. I looked like hell and I had vomit on my face. I grabbed a paper towel and moistened it to wash my face.

"No, but you have Vera at home and she loves you. That's something to celebrate."

"But she didn't tell me. If she hadn't been taped we would never have known about any of this. I don't understand what she was thinking. Doesn't she want us to punish these guys?"

Phoenix smirked. "Vera is confused just like you. The same people who were threatening to kill you came to her aid when she needed it most. I think that's a lot for both of you to process. We like to look at the world as black and white. This person is evil while this person is ok, but Vera's life hasn't proven that to be the case. Was her father evil? Is what she did wrong? And if it is, is it as wrong as what they did to her? Vera's situation left her with nothing but choices between different levels of wrong. See, I've come to find out everything is shades of grey. That's why even these fuckers deserve a defense."

Phoenix was such a weird guy sometimes. He seemed like such a hapless loser, but he really was brilliant. I couldn't imagine ever having half of his wisdom. I didn't think I would ever be dedicated enough to go through all he had to in order to gain it.

"Honestly, I think Vera's as relieved that you and Trucy are ok as you are to have her back. I don't think she wanted to be seen as naive enough to fall for the old trick, but it was very believable. All they would have had to do was call you and you would have walked right into a trap."

I didn't want to admit this, but he was probably right. I would have done anything to get Vera back safe.

"Hey, how'd you know that guy had taken copies of the tapes home?" Phoenix laughed.

"Oh, that was nothing. You would have figured that out if you'd read his criminal record, but I know you had other things on your mind." He said it kindly not scolding me like I would have expected. Actually, I got the distinct impression he was proud of me for controlling my temper. We had accomplished our mission and we could go home with our heads held high, because we hadn't stooped to their level and I supposed that was something to celebrate.

"What I don't understand is why all of a sudden Vera seemed so convinced that they didn't have you. She really seemed to believe it before…"

"So the amazing Phoenix Wright missed seeing her look at the radio?" I chuckled. I loved when I could point out something he had overlooked.

"No, I saw that, but I didn't understand it." Phoenix narrowed his eyes to read me. "You sent her a message didn't you?"

"I nodded. Thanks to Klavier. I can't believe now I'm indebted to that jerk." I shook my head. Why did I have the feeling he would want something really big in return or hold this over my head for the next several years?

"What'd you say in your message?"

"That we were coming for her. Though at the time I called Klavier it was a lie. I just wanted her to know that I was thinking of her, but we still didn't know where she was."

Phoenix smiled, "See? It's all shades of grey…Come on let's pick up some burgers on the way home."

I laughed. I had just blown chunks and he was telling me we were picking up greasy burgers. "You're getting more like Maya everyday."

Phoenix smiled broadly. "Thank you. I consider that a great compliment." He said holding the bathroom door open for me.

The next afternoon I got a call from Detective Skye while I was in the office. She was chomping on her favorite snack while she talked.

"We found the copies of the surveillance MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH tapes at his apartment right where he said they'd be and we found a bunch of other stuff, too. It seems that voyeurism is a hobby of his. But we've got plenty of scientific evidence. MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH. You can tell Vera we've got enough to get him locked up for a long time."

I never thought hearing that Klavier Gavin had an open-and-shut case would make me feel so good.

I wasn't sure how to tell Vera that once again the goodness in the world had let her down that yet another evil person had targeted her. I thought maybe if I told her how she was sparing other women from going through this I might be able to focus her on the good in all this, but I was having a hard time getting myself to concentrate on that.

I walked into her apartment. Vera was in the kitchen making tea and Trucy was on the couch practicing a complex card trick. I walked up to her and hugged her.

"Polly, why are you crying?" she whispered to me. "I'm right here."

I looked at her, what would I have done if she hadn't come back?

When Phoenix returned home he grabbed a grape juice and came upstairs. The center of our activities had really moved to Vera's apartment now, because she felt most comfortable there and we weren't letting her be alone.

"Hey! Mr. Phoenix." Vera was sitting on the couch looking at a magazine.

"Hey, Vera! Detective Skye gave me something they didn't need as evidence." From the pocket of his hoodie he pulled out a large manila envelope.

"She says it belongs to you."

Vera got up from her chair and came to take the envelope from him. "What is it Mr. Phoenix?"

"I don't really know. All she said was she thought you might want it."

Vera sat down on the couch to open it and then she smiled, "My pictures!"

Out of the envelope flowed all kinds of drawings on lined notebook paper that had been pulled from a spiral notebook.

"You drew all these didn't you?" Phoenix said with obvious admiration.

She nodded. "It helped keep me sane. Well, sort of sane, I guess. I even drew myself windows see?" She held up a drawing that looked like the view from a window, there was a crossbeam splitting the window into fourths, a deciduous tree and a woman jogging on the sidewalk with her little dog.

"Please, tell Detective Skye thank you. I am happy to have these back."

She sat on the couch looking at them. Over her shoulder I saw them- they were beautiful. It was amazing how the drawings exuded a sense of peace considering the condition she was in when she drew them. I saw her gaze lingering on one picture and I moved closer to look at it but she tucked it back in the envelope before I saw it. Then she said, "Don't worry, sweetie. I'm going to be OK." And she smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I'll pull through this. There's things I want to do in the future." And her eyes twinkled as she looked at me.

I had the distinct impression whatever was on that paper had to do with me, but it was obvious she wasn't prepared to share it. I wondered what it could be, from the expression on her face I could tell she wasn't showing me because she was embarrassed. What could she not want to share after all we had been through? Was she really too shy to show me a picture of the two of us…married…kissing…making love?

I leaned forward, "Don't I get to see that one?"

She shook her head, "Sorry, no. At least not now."

I whispered in her ear, "It's me isn't it?"

"Maybe," she said seeming a little flustered. Did she really think I wouldn't guess that? I knew her too well.

"When then?"

"Someday, I guess. If you're good."

"I'll be polishing my halo" and I flashed her a devilish grin.

She smiled sheepishly and gathered the other drawings in her hand and slid them into the envelope too. She got up and headed to her bedroom. "I'm going to get dressed." And then she said words that made me feel as if a huge weight had been lifted from me, "I think I'll do a little painting, if that's ok?"

"That's fine. I've got some work to do." And as she settled in to working on a blank canvas I made myself comfortable on the couch with the _Journal of Modern Law- Defense Edition_ and though I probably should have been actually reading it I found myself merely holding it. Instead, I gazed at Vera. I could only see her back as she painted but to see her hands and arms casting their spell upon the canvas made me think just how amazingly resilient people can be when they know what it is to love and be loved.

**THE END**

Risenfromash: I wrote this story five different ways and originally it contained portions form Vera's perspective including her conversations with her father while held captive and you the reader saw her create her sketches including the mysterious drawing she hides from Polly, but I found that it was hard to write Vera's experience without seemingly overlydramatic and it slowed the story down… but for anyone who enjoyed this I write a lot about Polly and Vera and their life as part of the Wright clan. "Flashback" will be a direct sequel to this when they are still working through the challenges of stabilizing her mental health post-abduction. And yes in one of the stories it will be revealed what she drew!

Thanks for reading


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